The sold-out event saw 500 people with tickets file through Chico Junior High, select their bowls and have those bowls filled by volunteers in the school cafeteria.

The Torres Shelter gets about 65 percent of its working budget from the community through fundraisers like Empty Bowls, said Brad Montgomery, executive director of the shelter. The rest of the operational budget comes from grants and contracts.

This year marked the 14th annual fundraiser for the shelter. Patrons paid $10 for the dinner and the handmade bowl of their choice.

A lot of times kids make bowls and the parents get in line early to get their child's project, Mongomery said.

"The bowls go quickly," he said.

A stay at the Torres Shelter costs about $20 per person per day.

The average stay is around 40 days, longer than most emergency shelters, Montgomery said. Local businesses and the Chico Unified School District, the Chico Unified Teachers Association, 21st Century/Blast art program, and the Noon Rotary club helped the shelter cover the event's expenses so that the money raised would go to the shelter.

Students who aren't in the Blast art program, which made the bowls, still had a chance to give back through volunteering.